Istanbul has been great so far. There hasn’t been much time to write (especially with the evening jet lag crash).
A guide makes all the difference. Dee’s sister, Bee, has been here several times before and speaks Turkish well enough to get by. She’s also very energetic and happy to explain all sorts of things as we wander. And we do wander. An example:
Yesterday morning, we thought we’d go visit the spice market, and got on the tram, heading that direction. Dee was feeling pretty flattened (she’s been having some health issues) so we decided to just stay on the tram a while longer and go see the old city wall instead. We overshot, got off at a later stop, and ended up wandering through a nearby park, where we stumbled across what seemed to be a Turkish cultural center.
It was pretty fantastic, a sort of collection of exhibits representing a number of nearby countries and cultures. Some of the yurts were beautiful
and the other buildings had interesting artifacts on display.
We did see the city wall on our way back, albeit from some distance, and it was still quite impressive.
We eventually made it to the Spice Bazaar, and then to the less touristy local spice market, which was of course more interesting. Here’s the Bazaar:
Here’s the local street:
Browsing and buying there was fun, but what I really appreciated was the small mosque we visited above the shops. I believe it was the Rüstem Paşa Mosque. Incredible architecture, and compelling in the way that churches and cathedrals sometimes are. There’s something about that expression of the human desire to create a sacred space – the great openness and stillness – that calls to me. I don’t see it as intrinsically religious, though in practice it’s in that context that I’ve generally found it.
Difficult to capture the mosque’s beauty; K may have done better. For now you’ll just have to trust me – it was lovely.
That was most of Day 1! More to say but the ferry has arrived.
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